A common site for a venipucture or intravenous (IV) insertion for obtaining a blood sample or intravenously administering a substance is the median cubital vein, which lies within the cubital fossa anterior to the elbow and is close to the surface of the skin. For a typical venipucture or IV insertion, the care giver (e.g., a phlebotomist, a nurse, a doctor, or other care giver) first visually locates this vein, and then prepares the skin area over the vein by cleaning the area (e.g., with alcohol) and prepares the vein by dilating the vein.
The care giver then proceeds to manually insert a needle, which is attached to a syringe, through the skin and into the vein at an angle in which the needle extends generally along the long axis of the vein. The care giver the draws back the plunger of the syringe to confirm whether the needle is in the vein or not based on whether blood is drawn into the syringe or not. A sufficient blood return generally indicates that the needle is indeed in the vein, and the care giver can draw blood or administer a substance via the vein. If unsuccessful, the care giver can either attempt to enter the same vein or identify a different vein to insert the needle into.
The literature has indicated that in the United States there are approximately one (1) billion venipunctures and more than two hundred (200) million peripheral intravenous (IV) insertions per year. For the venipunctures, the failure rate for the first attempt is approximately twenty percent (20%). For IV insertion, the success rate is nominally about eighty percent (80%), and only about thirty-three percent (33%) for difficult patients. In view of the foregoing, there is an unresolved need for other approaches for performing venipunctures and IV insertions.